Ethics & International Affairs, Volume 7 (1993)

Zohar applies Talmudic views on communal sin to contemporary political
discourse by posing the question "Are we our brothers' keepers?" The essay
addresses international responsibility to protect victims of oppression
worldwide. This discussion is particularly valuable in today's political system
where the national sovereignty of a state may attempt to outweigh the victims'
claim of persecution. While asserting that economic sanction, primarily
boycott, in lieu of military action, is the most effective means of
curtailing the actions of the oppressor government, he presents the views of
Maimonides and Nachmanides on the Noahide Code of Jewish law. The former
advocates full-scale embargo policy and holds all citizens responsible for
acquiescing in the sins of their rulers and hence of communal sin, thereby
justifying intervention. The latter, and more commonly accepted today, urges
elimination of (direct or indirect) participation in the deeds of the
perpetrators, the "clean-hands" approach, and hence allows for national
boundaries to overshadow injustices occurring within them. Both types of boycott
converge in that any transaction that fails to undermine the perpetrating regime
is in some way facilitating its existence.